it is usually a pretty good indicator when i have numerous loyal readers turn me on to something they think i might be interested in. i can think of no better example of this recently than the new album by steve earle. most people know that i am a huge fan of steve earle, but also his less well known son – justin townes earle. tragically we lost justin last year way too soon, and this is his father’s tribute to his life and music. steve and justin’s brother handpicked ten songs from justin’s songbook, and steve wrote one to add to the list.

when asked why he decided to do it now, he mentions that it was a cathartic process, but that he also wanted to get out in front of any potential tribute album that might come down the pike. he was quite frank in his reasoning for the latter. he felt that some of the artists who might participate in such a venture would be some of the same people who had enabled justin’s habits over the years, and as such directly or indirectly contributed to his death. steve wanted no part in that project.

all proceeds from this album go to a trust fund for justin’s daughter.

the songs here were all done with steve’s band. his interpretations of justin’s songs are not in any way an attempt to replicate the originals, and clearly have the father’s stamp on them. as one who is on record for my deep appreciation of justin’s career, i mean that as a compliment, and i think it works really well.

this is the third in steve’s tribute series. the first was to townes van zandt (whom justin is named after), and the second was to one of his other influences – guy clark. but this one was clearly very personal. the last song is called ‘last words’. it is steve’s reflection on his son, including their last phone call, which was the day that justin died. if you are a fan of both of these guys, you will find it difficult to not get choked up at the end. i for one failed in that endeavor.

when sturgill had to cut his ‘sound and fury’ tour short due to the pandemic, he retreated back to his home and ruminated on his next step. he did a fundraiser for musicians in june to an empty ryman auditorium with a bluegrass band, and made a promise to his fans that if they raised enough money, he would record a new album. well, he kept his promise, and the setting in retrospect was omniscient.

because nearly everyone stopped touring, he was able to gather up some of the best bluegrass minds around, and get them all in a studio to revisit 20 songs from his catalog. you could be suspicious and think that this was going to be a throw away ‘picking with sturgill’, but you would be wrong. you see, sturgill got started in the music business as a bluegrass artist, and only turned to country and americana formats later in his career. in a recent interview i heard he did with elizabeth cook, he said that after going through these sessions, he realized that many of these songs were at their heart bluegrass in nature, but were molded to fit the genre he was working in at the time. i knew most of these songs already, but they sound so natural in these new settings that he may be completely right.

let us first start off with the musicians he worked with. maybe first and foremost is the incredibly talented sierra hull, who kills it on mandolin here, and also does some great backing vocals. tim o’brien and mark howard are on guitars trading rhythm and leads, scott vestal is on banjo, and stuart duncan is on bass. his longtime bandmate miles miller is on the drums. it was recorded at butcher shoppe studios, unfortunately the last session ever done there.

the band and sturgill sound like they have been playing together forever. sturgill’s vocal stylings are not what you would consider to be in the bluegrass tradition, but it works so well here. on top of that, his often metaphysical lyrics sound better and more profound in this setting. it really just gels and sounds like it should have always been this way.

if you like sturgill or you like bluegrass, either way you will want to add this to your collection. i just found out that he released volume two this weekend, and i have heard a handful of cuts off of that. you might as well get both.

because he got his start in nashville, both with the band steeldrivers and writing hit songs for other country artists, it was probably natural that when he hit it big with his 2015 ‘travellers’ album, he was cast in the country genre. but that album, and his next two, showed that he was comfortable adding other influences to his songs.

when i added the cd to my itunes library, it tagged it as ‘country & western’. it is not. this is a multi genre album that skillfully mixes r&b, rockabilly, americana and soul, just to name a few. chris is at the top of his game here, and i think this is his best album yet. it opens with ‘starting over’, and ends with ‘nashville, tn’ – the latter a farewell to the city that got him started. he is clearly trying to make music of his own interests, while also making it hard to categorize his work. as i have mentioned before, i tend to be attracted to artists that defy description.

he coproduced it with dave cobb, and every track is well constructed and artfully played. he wrote or cowrote 11 of the 14 tracks. his three covers are an obscure john fogerty song, and two from guy clark (interestingly placed back to back near the end of the album). the lineup is considerably strengthened by adding in some outstanding work by the two ex petty hands, mike campbell and benmont tench. as always, his wife morgane adds great backup vocals.

listen to mike campbell’s guitar on this rocker:

but this is probably my favorite song. if you have ever had a dog that held a special place in your family, and then watched it succumb to old age, you will have a hard time keeping your emotions in check on this track. one of the great dog songs ever.

this post is dedicated to kobe, our friends’ dog who embodied everything about this song. ‘i can tell you right now, that a dog has a soul’. yes it does.

r.i.p., kobe.

the allman betts band has backed up their wonderful 2019 debut album (‘down to the river’) with an equally impressive sophomore offering, ‘bless your heart’. as a reminder, the lead members of the band are devon allman (gregg’s son), duane betts (dickie’s son), and berry duane oakley (berry oakley’s son). All are reluctant to categorize themselves as an ‘allman brothers’ sons’ band, but for various reasons they have drifted together and created something that advances the legendary band’s legacy while also allowing them to forge towards new directions and sounds. recorded at muscle shoals studios in alabama, under the watchful eye of engineer/producer matt ross-spang (isbell, margo price, john prine), the 13 songs clocking in at 72 minutes feature a wide variety of styles and arrangements – acoustic, blues, soul, and straight up rock and roll. their fathers’ musical heritage is in their genes, and you can hear it infused in much of the music, but you will also hear other influences like black crowes, ryan adams, grateful dead, and many others.

that being said, the centerpiece of the entire album might be the 12 minute instrumental ‘savannah dream’, penned by betts. i have seen it compared to one of his father’s masterpieces, ‘in memory of elizabeth reed’, which is both fair and unfair. fair in that it is a gorgeous and expansive composition that has unique melodies and layers, with room for improvisation from all of them and also gets downright nasty in the guitar solo sequences. unfair in that he will always be compared to the career of his father. at least for now.

even though the three descendants had known each other nearly all their lives and played together occasionally, this version of the band had barely played much together before recording their first album. they took that out on the road last year and began to gel as a unit. by the time I saw them in early february of this year, they were a well honed machine, putting on one of the best shows i have seen in a while. with a three guitar attack of allman, betts, and slide player johnny stachela, they not only have distinct styles but serious chemistry.

i am looking forward to seeing them on the road again soon.

the last act that john prine signed to his ‘oh boy’ record label before he died was a fellow by the name of arlo mckinley. arlo, a native of cincinnati, is a veteran of the kentucky/ohio/west virginia music scene, much like a few of the recent success stories like tyler childers, sturgill simpson, and a fellow i wrote about recently – ian noe.

he released his first album in 2014, and has been working on his second one here for a few years. recorded in the legendary sam phillips studio in memphis, produced by matt-ross spang (prine, isbell, margo price, etc.), and surrounded by some of nashville’s best studio musicians, arlo delivers one of my favorite albums of the year so far.

he comfortably distills country and folk to use as his palette to reflect on good times and bad times, broken relationships, and tales of addiction in the underbelly of the midwest.

when prine saw him for the first time during a showcase event at a small venue in nashville, he performed ‘bag of pills’, a song that had been in his repertoire for a few years. this song, as well as a few others on this collection, remind me of isbell’s work on the same topic. one of my favorites is a little honky tonk nugget called ‘she’s always around’, and it took me a couple times through it to realize that ‘she’ was not actually a woman, but rather a narcotic that was always there when he was vulnerable (much like neil young’s ‘old laughing lady’ wasn’t a woman either).

the whole album just has a natural feel to it, as if you had known some of these songs all your life. he has a distinctive voice, the songs are expertly crafted, and the production is supportive and impeccable.

if you are a fan of any of the artists i have mentioned above, then i am going to ask you to trust me on this one and just buy it. this is a really tough time to make your national debut, and i think this guy deserves a shot.